Stuart Bedford, former City corporate head at Linklaters, is set to join emerging markets private equity house LeapFrog Investments as general counsel.
Bedford takes on the role two years into a four-year term as London head of corporate, having replaced Sarah Wiggins in the role in September 2014 when she became global sectors head. Bedford, who is seen as one of the corporate group’s most reliable hands, relocated to London to assume that role two years ago. Prior to that he spent five years in the firm’s Singapore office.
Unusually he will remain a partner at Linklaters on a part-time basis while taking on the external role, though he has given up the London corporate head role, which will be phased out.
Bedford joined Linklaters in 1993, before departing for a stint in the legal department at BAE Systems in 1996. He then spent two years at Grosvenor Consultancy Services before returning to Linklaters in 2000. He was made a partner in 2005.
Bedford has a string of high profile mandates on his CV, having advising on the IPOs of Bumi, Fresnillo, Hochschild Mining, Xchanging, Britvic and Investec. He has worked for a whole host of funds on their deals, including Carlyle and Oaktree, and last year advised Brait on its £1.9bn acquisition of New Look and its £1.3bn acquisition of Virgin Active.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk